The jury in Utica found the police department retaliated against Officer Katherine Lee and had a policy, custom and practice of retaliating against workers who complained about discrimination.

The jury also found the police department violated the Americans with Disabilities Act over a perceived disability of Lee’s that resulted in her being placed on administrative leave and denied her gun. But U.S. District Judge David Hurd threw out that part of the verdict after the city argued Lee had not met the legal burden of proof, said Assistant Corporation Counsel Mary Ann Doherty.

The jury awarded her $650,000 but, after the judge’s ruling, the city now owes Lee $400,000.

The jury found that the only other defendant besides the city, former Deputy Chief Michael Heenan, did not retaliate against Lee. The verdict followed a two-week trial.

It was the third verdict of $450,000 or more against the police department over sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation of women officers in the past 10 months.

Sgt. Therese Lore was awarded $500,000 by a jury in May, and Officer Sonia Dotson was awarded $450,000 last month. A judge later reduced Lore’s verdict to $250,000. The city is appealing both verdicts. It will also appeal Tuesday’s verdict, Corporation Counsel Juanita Perez Williams said.

The same lawyer, A.J. Bosman, represented all three women.

“They’ve got a serious problem that they refuse to address,” Bosman said of police and city administrators. “They’re in denial.”

If the verdict stands, the money will have to come from city funds or the city will have to try to issue bonds to cover it, she said. That’s because the city is self-insured and not covered by an insurance company.

Williams said the allegations in Lee’s case go back many years but that the city will assess the police department’s policies as a result of the verdicts.

“The new administration is in the process of reviewing all of the policies and protocols of the police department and ensuring that we deal with any of these issues as quickly as possible,” Williams said.

Lee, 35, a police officer for 14 years, sued the department and her supervisors four years ago, claiming she was repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment and adverse employment actions and excluded from work for a perceived disability — that she was emotionally unfit to carry a gun. That came in 2000, when a doctor found Lee suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by an assault by her then-boyfriend, who was a police officer, according to court records.

“He ripped the hair out of her head, left a big bald spot,” Bosman said. “They treated her like she was the perpetrator, then they wouldn’t talk to her.”

Lee was not allowed to carry her gun for two years, even after a doctor said she could, court papers said. The department repeatedly demanded that she turn over select medical records, but she refused, court papers said.

Lee’s lawsuit accused the police department of depriving her of pay and promotions equal to her male counterparts. And she said she was subjected to repeated acts of sexual harassment. She claimed that any time she complained about male officers’ behavior, the department would conduct “sham” investigations, then accuse her of misconduct for making those complaints.

Lee, who could not be reached for comment, claimed male officers frequently watched pornographic movies at the workplace and made sexually derogatory remarks about women, she said. The male officers often publicly disparaged Lee, often in front of supervisors, without repercussion, the lawsuit said.